


Smile Of Destiny

by ProfoundCranium



Category: Destiny (Video Games), RWBY
Genre: Actual Story, Cybernetics, Doesn't follow game logic, Flashbacks, Multi, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Rwby/Destiny Crossover, Tags will be added as story goes on, destiny au, mental problems
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-06
Updated: 2018-11-23
Packaged: 2019-05-03 03:38:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 15,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14560056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProfoundCranium/pseuds/ProfoundCranium
Summary: Yang wants to take care of her sister. That's her one goal she refuses to fail. But Ruby has people of her own she wants to protect, and Yang is gonna find that protecting someone who's being targeted comes with a price. These sisters have a past and a heritage that's better left forgotten. But, like always, there are people that want to drag things into the light and take what they want. And Team Rwby is thrown into an age old conflict that will force them to make decisions with far reaching consequences.





	1. Regular Recon

 

**Yang's POV**

 

 

Qrow told her how beautiful it all looked at one point.

 

A lone Titan rested lazily on the ruins of an old factory. The sky was clear with the sun at it's highest point. Said sun shining down and glistening off of the Titan's armor, further exaggerating the yellow flames painted onto black metal. The sun also served to illuminate the Titan's colorful locks. Long blonde waves of hair cascaded down her back. On this factory building sat Yang Xiao Long, a woman of Eighteen years, as she casually observed the land before her. Yang's helmet sat next to her, keeping vigil over the Assault Rifle that was also leaning on the ridge of this unstable building. Before the destroyed relic that was Yang's resting place, was the endless plains of the Cosmodrome. Snow dotted the hilly, green terrain along with the occasional ruin.

 

     Yang thought about the stories her uncle told her about the Golden Age as she waited for her sister to return. Qrow always said that the Earth was once a beautiful place before the Darkness came. Awoken, Humans, and Machines alike all lived together. Flourishing with earth's endless resources. Looking at it now, someone would never guess that Earth had ever been anything more than a barren wasteland. But Yang knew better, she knew what her purpose was. Yang had become a Guardian for one reason and one reason only. To protect her sister.

 

Yang sat and looked on as these thoughts and more went through her head. Ruby was currently out on perimeter reconnaissance and Yang expected her back any second. Not one moment after Ruby crossed Yang's thoughts did she hear snow crunching behind her, just under the ridge of the Building Yang sat on. Yang hopped to her feet and grabbed her gun, turning it towards the sound, all in one fluid motion.

 

The Blonde Titan yelled the call sign that She and Ruby had agreed on before they began patrol. "Summer!"

 

A young, childish, female voice that Yang recognized right away responded. "Rose!" Not two seconds after the words reached Yang's ears did a armored hand reach up and grab the ledge, followed by a head of Red and Black hair. Yang lowered her gun as Ruby pulled herself up the side of the building. When Ruby was fully on the roof Yang took a moment to examine her sister and check for anything unusual.

 

Ruby is much smaller than Yang and, at first, one would never guess that they were ever related. Ruby had short hair that barely passed her shoulders. Where as Yang had Long Blonde hair that cascaded almost down to her waist. Yellow paint decorated to look like flames dotted every section of Yang's armor. Every piece down to the helmet had a miniature furnace that never went out and burned brighter or dimmer depending on her emotions. Ruby's armor might as well have been the exact opposite of her sister's. Her armor was Black and red with several belts and pouches crisscrossing the breastplate. The armor blended in with the environment and it also came with a cloak that extended as if it had a mind of it's own.

 

Other guardians who had fought the sisters tended to be surprised at the skill the sister's apparently had. Especially when considering their age. They would never guess that underneath they're helmets were young girls that had just matured. Ruby was only sixteen years old, two years younger than Yang. Despite they're obvious differences, they still worked amazingly well in the field.

 

Yang smiled at Ruby before questioning her on her findings. "Well lil' sis, what did you see out there?" Yang smiled in amusement when Ruby appeared  slightly miffed at being called Little.

 

"Last I checked,-" Ruby smugly began  "-I still hold the record for most consecutive headshots. Call me little after you beat that!"

 

"Hey, that's not fair!" Yang argued "Your arsenal is built for that. I was at _an obvious_ disadvantage." Yang put her hand to her forehead and motioned dramatically, much like actors would do on T.V to mimic fainting.

 

Ruby seemed to think the dramatic exaggeration was funny and had to hold in her laughter. Yang caught the stifled giggles and decided to continue her antics.

 

 _"C'mon, I gotta make her laugh at least once today."_ Yang thought.

 

The blonde continued motioning dramatically as she slowly and unnoticeably moved toward Ruby. "Oh how could I ever beat the Infamous Ruby Rose in a sniping contest? I have been grievously outmatched, and by my own sister no less!" Yang then got close enough and collapsed onto Ruby without warning.

 

Ruby hadn't been expecting over three hundred pounds of armor to fall on her and she quickly collapsed under the weight. However, Ruby had been trained to handle much worse weights and instead of being in pain she was laughing Whole-heartedly at Yang's stupidity.

 

"Yang you idiot." Ruby struggled to speak in between her bouts of laughter.

 

"Yeah I'm an idiot, but I'm an idiot that made you laugh." Yang stated as she lay on top of Ruby, pinning her to the Rooftop. Yang also just noticed that Ruby's helmet was chained to her belt. A helmet that was very nearly crushed by yang's weight. Luckily, the chain threw the helmet to the side preventing Yang from landing directly on it. "So, I bet your Cloak is as comfortable as a blanket huh Rubes?"

 

Ruby was giggling now and actually answered Yang without any problems. "Yes my cloak is comfy Yang, but I think your getting distracted again."

 

Yang rolled off of Ruby and continued looking at her sister, observing how her hair conveniently covered her right eye. Yang put her finger to her chin in a pose of thought before instantly responding. "Hmmm nah. I'm not distracted. I'm doing my job just fine."

 

Ruby smirked at Yang, her eyes softening before questioning her eldest sister. "And what job is that Yang?"

 

Yang looked at her sister and saw every detail. The smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, the thin scar right across Ruby's cheek from a grazing bullet, the sparkle of innocence in her silver left iris, the fact that behind the strands of hair covering her right eye sat an orb of steel instead of flesh. In that moment Yang saw the sixteen year old girl that she had sworn to take care of. And Yang smiled.

 

"My job is to make you happy."

 

Ruby smiled at Yang before leaning over and kissing her on the cheek. "Thanks Mom."

 

Yang grinned at being called Mom.

 

Ruby stood up and leaned over Yang, hands on hips before speaking. "Well, if you want to make me happy, then you can help me." Ruby offered her hand to Yang who took it instantly, allowing herself to be pulled up. "And I have the perfect thing for you to help me with."

 

"And what would that be Rubes?" Yang questioned as she dusted herself off and recovered her helmet from it's resting place. The titan Chained it to her belt, allowing Yang's hair to sway freely. Yang also recovered her assault Rifle and scanned it into her armor data banks for usage later. Yang then looked back at her sister for a response to her question.

 

Ruby put her hands behind her back and glanced at the ground, the perfect picture of shyness. "Ummm."

 

Yang gave her sister a questioning glance as she waited. Ruby looked up at her sister with a nervous grin. "I know I said I wouldn't ask anymore, but I wanted to ask-"

 

Yang cut off her sister with a sigh, already knowing what she was asking. "Ruby!" The elder sister voiced with obvious exasperation in her voice.

 

Ruby immediately started waving her hands in front of her face, almost like she was trying to block her sisters annoyance. "W-wait! Yang hear me out! I just want a ride to the camp! That's it! I promise!"

 

Yang gave Ruby her Mom Glare (Patent-Pending) before responding. That's what you said last time! And the time before that, and the time before that, and the time before-"

 

"All right!"  Ruby cut her older sister off. "I get it! Can you please just let me hitch a ride with you! Your sparrow is cool and I wanna ride it! Besides I gotta make sure the engine is running properly."

 

Yang seemed to think over the arrangement for a moment. Her sparrow _did_  need to be checked by Ruby soon anyway. After all, Ruby knew more about elemental sparrows then she did. She made hers first for a reason. Coming to a decision Yang slumped over and breathed out a sigh of defeat. Ruby, knowing she had won, gave her sister a gleaming grin before bouncing in place, obviously excited.

 

"Thank you Yang!"

 

Yang started to type in the command to summon her sparrow into her wrist pad. "Your never gonna grow out of this habit are you?"

 

Ruby looked entirely too happy as she stared at the materializing sparrow and responded.  "Nope!"

 

 _"Oh My God, I am a taxi service for my sister."_ Yang thought before she looked at her sparrow. It was a bit bigger than a normal sparrow. It had to be. Normal sparrows can't carry two people, dual miniguns, and flame exhausts. Ruby started giggling like a child and rambling about Yang's sparrow as she checked the whole thing over. Yang was thankful Ruby was here, Yang built the basic portions of the sparrow but Ruby did everything else. Of course she wants to make sure everything works. Besides, despite the argument they had, Yang would gladly let Ruby ride with her if it meant that she would laugh like this. Oftentimes it's easy to forget Ruby is only sixteen years old.

 

"-And are the chainguns spinning properly? They should be shooting around three hundred rounds a minute? What type of ammo do they use again? 5.56 right? Or was that .45? .308? I don't quite remember."

 

Of course, Ruby could go on a tangent sometimes and needed to be stopped by someone else. Mostly just Yang since she was among the few people who didn't stop and stare at the young huntress rambling in awe about advanced technology.

 

"Ruby."

 

The brunette showed no response and continued her rant.

 

"Are you liking the engines Yang? Are they running properly? You should know I spent a long, long time on them! So you better not damage them! Do you have any idea how long it took to make the engine make that cool loud _VROOOMM_ sound when you rev it up? Way too much time I tell you!"

 

"Ruby." Yang repeated exasperation obvious in her tone.

 

Ruby kept fiddling with the sparrow chassis as her Ruby Rant, (Patent-Pending), continued on.

 

"YANG! What happened to the paint job! And what about all these dents?!? I just painted this like, three days ago! Did you drive over landmines again!? What have I told you about this sparrow! Just because i made it almost indestructible doesn't mean you can drive like a reckless oaf!"

 

Gasping in dismay, Ruby continued to ream her sister out for details and information without giving her a chance to respond. Ruby insulted Yang and didn't even look in her direction. At this point, Yang was basically done as she let loose a sigh. Walking forward a few steps, Yang reached out and slapped Ruby on the back of the head. Not hard enough to cause harm, but hard enough to snap her sister out of it.

 

"Owww! Yaaaang!" Ruby looks up at Yang and pouts, as if she couldn't believe her eldest sister would ever lay a hand on her. For a second, Yang's flinches and see's a completely different image. A nightmare that passes so quickly she can't even recognize what she's looking at. She shrugs it off as fast as possible before she can start freaking out, but the scent of blood is oddly prominent.

 

"You don't need to freak out over my Sparrow Rubes. At least, not out here." Ruby gave Yang her weaponized Doe Eyes before trying to justify her actions.

 

"But Yang! It has so many problems with it! The-" Yang bopped her sister on the head before she could start another rant before sighing and giving Ruby a hopeless gaze.

 

"If I let you play around with Demolition back at the tower, will you stop nagging me?" Ruby immediately stands up straighter and positively _beams_ at her sister.

 

"Yep!" Yang gave Ruby a look that basically screamed "Are you Serious?" before hopping onto her sparrow. She revved the engine and Demolition gave a load roar as it started up. Ruby started giggling like a child possessed when she heard Demolition's Engine.

 

"It sounds so awesome!" Ruby jumped onto the sparrow and latched her arms around Yang in one fluid motion. Oblivious to the Sparrow jostling around in a dangerous manner. Yang just had this blank, dead look on her face. As if this was a normal occurrence that had happened plenty of times before.

 

"Are you ready Sis?" Yang didn't even look back at Ruby as she asked her question. She just started double checking her footing on the Sparrow before getting ready to drive.

 

"Yep! All set."

 

"Where we goin Rubes?" Yang's annoyed attitude seemed to be fading away and her normal carefree attitude replaced it as she accepted her place as Ruby's personal courier.

 

"See those mountains over there?" Ruby reached over her sister and pointed toward a more grassy area of the cosmodrome. An area that dregs frequented often.

 

"We goin' hunting Ruby?" Yang looked back at her sister, a question in her eyes. Ruby nodded before giving an explanation.

 

"My recon! I never told you what I found. There is a small Vandal camp about 5 miles over the crest of that hill. A cliff oversees the camp site." Ruby gave her sister a wolfish grin. A look that Yang mirrored.

 

"I like the way you think.." Yang revved up Demolition and drove off. Ruby held onto her sister tightly, grinning the whole time as her cloak flapped in the wind.

 

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

 

"This is gonna be fun." Yang was sitting atop a cliff with her sister. Ruby was using her rifle, Silver Stare, to scope out the camp whilst Yang was vibrating in place, eager to fight.

 

"What's down there Rubes?" Yang sprawled out on the ground next to Ruby, trying to get a look at the camp they were about to wreck.

 

Yang looked down the Cliffside and saw a few specks at the bottom. They were a LOT higher up than Yang originally thought, and the sheer drop down seemed oddly inviting to the female titan. A hundred story drop? No biggie. Ruby let out a thoughtful hum, a signal for Yang's attention. A signal that Yang obeyed.

 

"There are two tents propped up against the Cliffside. A few feet ahead of those is a campfire that most of them are huddled around."

 

"How many?"

 

"I count fifteen. Seven Dregs, three Vandals, and Vandal captain. They're all lounging around the campfire. A few dozen feet away from the main camp, three Shank drones and a Servitor are tied to a pole."

 

Yang nodded in satisfaction. This fight was tilted in their favor. Firepower and surprise made for a very nice advantage.

 

"Alright Rubes. How're we gonna do this?"

 

Ruby stood up and slung her rifle around her shoulder before walking a bit away from the ledge. Yang followed her sisters suit and walked after her. The younger sister stopped a fair distance away from the edge before starting to hit some buttons on her wrist pad. Yang stood behind her wondering what the red reaper was planning. A few moments of silence later and some items materialized in front of Ruby before falling into the snow. Yang walked over to stand by her sister and stared down at the items that had spawned.

 

"Ruby? Is that what I think it is?" A Giant heavily customized Scythe lay in the snow. Along with it was what looked like a modified knife with a dial on the end and a steel box that Yang knew to contain a heavy duty parachute.

 

"Yes! Yes it is." Ruby walked forward and crouched down in front of the huge blade. She grabbed the steel parachute box and strapped it to her back. Yang heard a solid _Thunk_ as the box magnetized itself to her metal armor. Ruby then grabbed the strange knife before standing up and walking over to stand in front of her sister.

 

"Yang, remember a few days ago? When I asked if I could borrow your armor?" Yang thought back to a couple days ago. She was working out in the gym when Ruby came running in asking if she could borrow her armor. Yang gave her the go ahead, but she didn't think Ruby would actually do anything substantial.

 

"Yeah. I remember. What did you do?" Ruby grabs Yang's arm before holding it between them. Ruby turns her sisters gauntleted hand over, palm up. Then she points at a section of her forearm.

 

"Here. I added something." Yang stares down at the underside of her forearm and notices something. There is a slit. It looks like port made for the knife that Ruby is holding right now. Yang doesn't even get a chance to question anything before Ruby continues.

 

"This knife is special." Ruby holds up the knife, staring at it. "I call it the Data Knife. I made it into a data uploader that doubles as a blade. Jam it into any electronic and it will start uploading or downloading whatever you want." Ruby taps the dial on top. I dial that Yang now realizes is holographic.

 

"This dial is basically your progress bar. It will show the percentage of your current hack." Yang is staring at her sister in utter shock before she starts spouting off questions.

 

"Ruby wait, why is there a port for that in my armor?" Ruby considers the question for about a second before continuing with her explanation. "I put the port in your armor for two reasons. One, a port is smarter than just randomly stabbing you to install upgrades. Two, your armor is sturdier than mine and I needed a resistant base to test this. If it works, I'll have one too."

 

Yang's eyes widen in shock at Ruby's nonchalant way of saying that she had put _untested_ tech in her armor.

 

"Ruby!" Yang squealed in shock. "You put untested tech in my armor?" Ruby's grip tightens, holding her sister in place. Yang is met with a glare from Ruby and notices a slight blue glow behind the hair that covers her right eye.

 

"Yang." The cold tone that Ruby takes then makes Yang freeze. "I've tested the knife on several electronics. It works just fine. I've made miniature copies of the port in your armor and those work too. It's perfectly safe." Ruby's eye softens and her grip on Yang's arm loosens ever so slightly. "I would never put you in danger like that Yang."

 

Yang takes a deep inhale before shaking off her nervousness and narrowing her eyes at Ruby. "All right. What next?" Ruby gives her sister a small grin before continuing on how to use the Data Knife "What I have in the knife now is a fairly simple Trojan Hijacking Virus. Download it into any electronic, and it will immediately activate any inactive tech after repurposing it. Use it to hack turrets, unlock doors, turn floodlights on or off, and a fairly large amount of other tasks."

 

"So why is there a port in my armor?" Yang worriedly frowned down at the hole in her armor that could honestly unlock anything.

 

"Because I installed some upgrades that need to be tested, and now's the perfect time." Before the fiery titan can resist, the Red Reaper jams the Data knife into the port, allowing the dial to flare to life. Yang is mystified as three orange rings appear to float over the Dial in a funnel shape. The top circle is the largest whilst the bottom circle is the smallest. These rings are actually percentage bars which become obvious when the top ring begins to fill up, coloring itself blue. Seconds later and the bottom ring fills up and the whole display vanishes. In it's place appears the words "Hack Complete" before Ruby removes the knife and the dial goes blank again.

 

"There. The upgrades should be active now." Yang bounced on the balls of her feet as she observed herself. "I don't feel any different."

 

"You shouldn't. All I did was activate your collapsible shield and your shock absorption gel." Yang stared wide eyed at Ruby, clearly asking for help. Ruby walked up to Yang and grabbed her wrist. Yanking Yang over towards her, Ruby hit a few button on her wrist pad before showing it to her sister.

 

"See?" There's a new option now." Ruby wasn't lying. Yang could clearly see a new "Shield" option amongst her normal slew of hacking tools. Tapping the button, Yang was surprised and shocked to see a giant circular shield unfold and settle onto her right arm. It was big, about four feet in diameter.

 

"What the fuck?" Yang felt a metal handle in her hand and went to move her arm. It moved normally, unrestrained by this foreign object. Yang let go of the shield and it simply slipped off her arm. Hitting the snow, the shield landed before staying still. However, when Yang went to reach for the shield, it shook a bit before rushing towards her hand and reconnecting itself perfectly. Handle and all.

 

"Throw it Yang." The Titan turned around to stare at her sister. Ruby seemed to just be watching and taking note of how the shield was working. She gave Yang a nod of affirmation before nodding over to a nearby tree. "Throw the shield Yang. It will be cool, I promise."

 

Yang looked at the small spruce tree that sat nearby. It wasn't very sturdy looking, about two feet thick. Yang still wasn't expecting much though. The Titan drew her arm back before swinging forward and releasing the handle right at the apex of her swing. The shield _sailed_ away, similar to a chakram disc. It cleaved the tree in two, before continuing on it's path like nothing had happened. It didn't even lose any momentum and all Yang could do as the tree fell over with a crash, was gape in open wonder.

 

"Don't let it get away Yang." Yang looked at her sister in confusion and was met with a look of amusement. The Titan reached out for the shield that was about three dozen feet away from the mountain at this point and to her surprise, the shield made a U-turn before coming straight back towards her. Yang felt a s shiver of fear as a steel projectile sailed at her face at around fifty miles an hour. However, her fears were pointless, as the shield latched back onto her arm perfectly. As if it never left. The impact was a bit rough, but Yang had dealt with worse.

 

"Hey, the shock absorption gel works!" Yang turned around to see Ruby bouncing up and down in joy. "If it wasn't working, then that impact probably would have fractured your arm."

 

Yang didn't even bother trying to get angry over Ruby's complete dismissal of the risk involved with this shield. Instead she watched as the red reaper sat down by that giant scythe and began to hit some more buttons on her wrist pad. A few moments later, a large ammo box with the words ".20 MM Cannon" scrawled onto it, spawned and fell into the snow with a loud _clank_. The box looked like a steel trunk and Ruby opened it before grabbing a few bullets out of it, bullets the size of her forearm.

 

"So, why do we need all this stuff Rubes? What are you planning?"

 

"It's quite simple." Ruby collapsed the Scythe down into what appeared to be a bolt action rifle before pulling an empty magazine out of the bottom of it. "I'll glide over the camp with a parachute, providing cover fire for you with Crescent Rose here." Ruby tapped on the giant rifle in her lap to emphasize her point. A rifle that was named Crescent Rose.

 

"What will I be doing then?" Ruby put a tenth bullet into the giant rifle magazine before putting it back into Crescent Rose. Standing up, Ruby turned and gave her sister a wicked grin. "You, my dear sister, will be skydiving into the enemy camp. Causing as much chaos and destruction as possible as you do what you do best!"

 

Yang suddenly realized what the shield was for and gave a smile of her own. "Am i turning some fallen into pancakes sis?"

 

Ruby unchained her helmet from her belt and donned it as she marched over to the edge of the cliff once again, making sure nothing had changed as she stared through Crescent's scope.

 

"Yep, shock and awe tactics all the way!" Yang walked up to stand next to her sister as she double checked the enemy positions. She grabbed her helmet that had been chained to her belt this whole time and put it on, knowing she would need it. The helmet had a gap that Yang's hair fit through and she had done it up in a ponytail on the way here. Satisfied with the helmets fit Yang watched as her Hud came online. The height level on the left side of her Hud said that she was one hundred floors above ground level. Yang was gonna enjoy watching that tick down.

 

"Well, I'm ready when you are Rubes!"

 

Ruby came away from her scope and stepped away from the ledge a few steps. Pulling her hood over her head, Ruby double checked her gear.

 

"Good, it's go time. None of the hostiles have moved all that much. You dive first, I'll follow to get a good height over these guys."

 

Yang gave a wry grin as she backed off a bit. She needed a good running start after all!

 

"See ya next fall Rubes!" Yang ran and leaped off the cliff, beginning her hundred floor descent. The wind in her ears was a very calming sound as Yang stared at the camp that resided on the ground below her. The floor was rapidly approaching, the Titan estimated about a minute of flight time before impact. Yang turned flipped around midair, removing the shield off her arm before putting in under her feet. Using it as a sort of surfboard. She looked down and saw hat the ground was VERY close now, Yang could actually see the Fallen individually now. Ruby was right, Fifteen in all. Yang was gonna land right in the middle of the camp. This realization made Yang smile underneath her helmet.

 

**_Twenty floors_ **

 

Yang watched as the meter on her Hud clicked down.

 

**_Ten Floors_ **

 

"Showtime." Yang's words were snatched up by the screaming wind.

 

_BOOM_

 

The impact rocked Yang's body and sent a cloud of powder snow up in the air, but there was no pain so she didn't care. The Titan noticed the yelling and screeching happening around her and looked at her radar. She counted ten red dots surrounding her.

 

"Only ten?" Yang voiced out loud as she stood up. Looking around, The Titan saw that the snow cloud was dissipating. Six  dregs stood in front of her. Small bipedal creatures that wore masks. Fallen usually had four arms, two on each side of their body. Dregs however, had the bottom two arms amputated for some reason. Yang never cared enough to figure out why. Honestly, Fallen could almost pass for human if it wasn't for they're pale blue skin and the whole four arms thing. Behind her stood four Vandals, each holding a spear securely with two of their arms And a plasma rifle with the other two.

 

"Well?" The Fallen seemed to shrink away from The Titan's voice, but they held their ground. "We gonna get this party started or what?"  

Yang suddenly heard a gurgling sound coming from underneath her. Looking down she noticed the large blood platter underneath her shield along with the crushed body of the Vandal Captain. He was crushed flat, only one arm and his head was visible. Everything was most likely reduced to goop underneath the weight of her shield.

 

"Oh! I was wondering where you were at big guy! This explains a lot actually." All at once the Fallen surrounding Yang gave a guttural roar in response to seeing their leader slaughtered. Brandishing their weapons, they all ran towards The Titan, intent to kill obvious.

 

"Finally!" Yang ran towards the nearest Dreg ignoring the dagger and pistol in his hand entirely. She jumped up and viciously kneed the Dreg in the face watching with satisfaction as his mask shattered beneath the force. His face wasn't much better. Yang then used his body as a springboard and launched her self backwards, behind the Vandals that were coming up behind her. Yang flipped upside down and stared at the Vandals back as two sawed of shotguns materialized into her  hands. Before Yang hit the ground she took aim and fired into the backs of two vandals, spraying the Fallen in the viscera of their comrades. Yang's back hit the ground and she rolled perfectly into a crouched position. The Titan observed her prey as she took off running towards the Cliffside wall.

 

"Two down!" A few stray bullets hit the ground around Yang's feet, the Fallen had opened fire. Not that it mattered, their aim was terrible. Yang looked up and saw a Giant square parachute holding a small girl almost 90 floors up. Ruby's cloak billowed in the breeze, adding a dramatic flair that Yang appreciated. Ruby was in position most likely waiting for Yang to give the signal. Yang signed the word "Fire" as she ran, giving Ruby the all clear.

 

Not even two seconds after, a loud crack sounded across the sky. If it was raining, Yang would have mistaken it for a thunderclap. Turning around, Yang saw the fallen screech in horror as they backed away from the corpse of a dreg. It's whole torso had exploded into a mess of gore and bone. A crater had appeared right underneath it. It was a small crater, about 7 seven feet in diameter and one foot deep, but it was telling of the force Crescent was packing.

 

Yang dropped her shotguns and pulled out her assault rifle, Soul Burn, before letting loose a torrent of lead. Every Fallen that was previously chasing The Titan, was now running away as they were torn to pieces by the stream of bullets. A few bullets rammed into Yang's side, knocking the air out of her. Another crack of thunder followed. Yang turned to her right and saw that the drones were trying to take potshots at her, even tied to a pole as they were. One of them had exploded after Ruby fired her rifle, probably the one that got lucky and landed a few shots.

 

The drones were fragile and boxy, having multiple eyes on front of them, with two rotors on either side. A small turret was bolted to the bottom. Efficient, but easy to break. Yang fired off a few rounds and easily destroyed the drones. Watching as they exploded, Yang observed the field of battle. The fallen she had shot earlier lay either dead or dying in the snow. The drones were destroyed.

 

"Then why do I feel like I'm missing something?"

 

Another shot from Crescent answered her question. Yang whipped around and saw a Giant robotic orb, lying on the ground, a large five inch hole through it's top.

 

"Oh right! The Servitor! Forgot you jerks could teleport." Yang put her rifle on her back, hearing it magnetize, before scooping her shotguns off the ground. They were lever action, so Yang cocked them both, watching as the smoking shotgun shells were ejected from the barrels. Leveling one at the Servitor, Yang fired one more blast, putting the machine out of it's misery.

 

"Well, that was fun." Yang scanned her Shotguns into her databanks for later and began to walk over to her shield. Before she could reach it though, a fallen erupted out of the ground, screeching as it took a swing at Yang. The Titan jumped back, dodging the two spears this fallen was trying to stab her with.

 

"Hey! Using the snow to hide? Neat trick! I have one too!" Yang reached out towards the Lone, snow covered Vandal, holding her hand in the air. The Creature was confused at the Titans actions, tilting it's head and staring. Yang chuckled before speaking.

 

"No pal, I'm not reaching for you. Though you may wanna turn around?" The Vandal tensed up before whipping around just in time to see a steel shield decapitate him and latch onto the Titan's arm. Yang started laughing at the body as it slowly fell over, seemingly frozen in shock at having it's head cut off.

 

"That was awesome!" Yang hit some buttons on her wrist pad before the Shield began to fold itself up. Fitting right back into her right arm. The Titan shook her arm a few times to test for stiffness before pressing a button on the side of her helmet.

 

"You all good up there Rubes?" Yang looked back up at her sister, noticing that she had floated about twenty floors down. Yang gave the sniper a wave. Yang heard a voice speak through her helmet in response.

 

"I'm fine Yang! What about you?"

 

"I'm doing awesome! Get down here already, i have some quality item waiting for you down here!"

 

"On It."

 

Yang watched as the parachute her sister was riding on suddenly retracted back into the steel box on her back. Ruby started to free fall, using the Cliffside to slow herself down. Ruby's Cloak flapped around in the wind as she fell. Seconds later Ruby launched off the wall to land in front of her sister with a solid _Thunk_. Standing back up, Ruby took off her hood and removed her helmet before giving Yang an ear splitting grin.

 

"Well! How did I do Yang? Was it a good plan? Did I do good?" Yang took off her helmet, re-chaining it to her belt, before reaching out and patting Her younger sister on the head.

 

"Yeah Ruby." Yang smiled and praised her sister calmly. "It was a great plan and you were perfect out there."

 

Ruby grinned even bigger, if that was possible, and gave Yang a crushing hug. Yang grinned and returned  the hug, wondering if they could use that strategy in the crucible.

 

"Well, wanna go shopping?" Ruby started giggling at Yang's terrible joke before letting go of her and nodding feverishly.

 

"Yeah! I wanna see if I can use anything here!"

 

"Well then get going the brat! Gotta get them discounts!" Now Ruby is  full blown laughing as she walks away towards the Fallen corpses.

 

"Yang, this isn't a store!" Yang stood there and watched as her sister searched through the corpses, humming a happy pop tune all the while. A part of Yang felt a bit of guilt, watching her sister be so jolly as she searched through corpses. But the bigger part was just happy that Ruby could be joyful at all.

 

Yang sat there and wondered if they should go home after this or if they should go look at town five miles north that looked _really_ interesting.

 

"Hey Rubes?" Ruby looked away from the Servitor wreck she was in the middle of stripping for parts.

 

"Yes Yang?"

 

Yang nodded towards the city on the horizon.

 

"That city over there. We're allowed to go there right?"

 

Ruby narrowed her eyes at the city, thinking about it.

 

"Well, we were never told that we CAN'T go there. Soooo, it should be fine?"

 

Yang stared at the city and thought about her options. Something about it seemed important, like she was supposed to go there.

 

"Yang?" The Titan snapped out of her haze and looked at her sister. Ruby was staring at her in concern.

 

"You find anything good Rubes?" Ruby pouted before answering.

 

"No, just the normal stuff, glimmer, basic engines, some bullets. Nothing valuable."

 

"Hmm. Well, we can't go home empty handed can we?"

 

Ruby looked at her sister in surprise before smiling.

 

"Really? We're going to the city?"

 

Yang nodded before pressing some buttons on her wrist pad. Her sparrow materializing before her,

 

"Yep! You need the gear anyway. Besides, if the intel is true, that city is abandoned anyway. Should be safe."

 

Yang mounted Demolition, motioning for Ruby to do the same. With that, the sisters drove off, leaving the Fallen camp full of corpses behind them.

 

The last sound any of those dying Fallen heard was that of a young girl giggling as she drove away.


	2. Grim Discoveries

**Ruby's POV**

"So, Yang?" Ruby yelled over the wind as she and her sister blazed through the Cosmodrome towards an abandoned city on a very loud Sparrow. Ruby held onto her sister whilst the blonde's hair flowed freely in the wind. Neither sister had they're helmets on, preferring to have a wider range of vision.

"Yes, Ruby?" Yang responded calmly as she took a rough turn around a tree.

Ruby's grip around her sister's waist tightened as she responded. "Is there anything specific we're looking for in the city?"

Yang hummed in thought for a minute. "I can't think of anything that _I_ need right now. I just want something better than the usual crap we get. Ya know, guns, high quality engrams, Golden Age Tech, the works." Yang turned back for a moment, grinning at her sister. "I like to think I'm a simple gal, Rubes. What about you? Anything you want?"

Ruby did not answer right away. Her gear didn't need any kind of repairs at the moment. And everything she was in the middle of building was typically experimental in nature, and thus wouldn't benefit from shoving ultra rare Golden Age Tech into it. 

"I can't think of anything Yang! I'll be fine just exploring and finding random things!" Ruby could feel her sister let out a small chuckle before responding.

"Look at that, Rubes! We have a game plan before we got to our objective! We've grown so much!"

Ruby giggled at her sister's sarcasm. "Qrow would be having a drink in our honor!"

"Damn straight!"

Ruby could feel Demolition slowing down at a steady rate. They were almost at their destination, only about a mile from the city. The buildings littered throughout the city were all in varying states of destruction, with several structures being almost overtaken by plant life. Some unfortunate buildings had even been reduced to rubble. One thing was clear: Nature was reclaiming what was hers.

"So Rubes? Where are we gonna start searching?" Yang had reached the outskirts of the city and started riding through the aging streets at a leisurely pace.

"Hmmm, maybe we should split up? Search around by ourselves for a bit and look for anything interesting. After an hour, we join back up at the city center and compare notes? We don't need to cover the whole city today, we have time." Ruby let go of Yang's waist, swinging her legs over Demolition's massive frame before hopping down onto the grassy street. The red hooded Hunter needed to stretch her legs and Yang was driving slow enough for Ruby to walk alongside her sparrow.

Yang looked over at her sister with almost glowing Lilac colored eyes as she smiled. "Sounds like a great idea, Rubes. Wait, where even is the city center?" Â Ruby looked down at her wrist, pulling up the Vanguards Scouting files. After a few seconds of searching, she pulled up a map of the city and marked a section right in the center, a building that appeared to be a hotel that was missing the top half of it's floors. A few more button presses and Ruby had sent the map info to Yang's wrist-pad.

"There! That is the city center. It looks to be a plaza like area with a hotel in the middle." Yang eyes almost seemed to gleam as the grin on her face stretched even further.

"Oooh, a hotel! Do ya think I can get the VIP treatment?" Yang enthusiastically spouted, posing theatrically Â as she did so. Ruby laughed at her sister's antics before shaking her head.

"Sorry Yang, the penthouse was cleaved off along with the twenty uppermost floors when a ship of some sort got a little too close for comfort." Yang deflated slightly at her sister's explanation, yet still grinned slightly after a few moments of exaggerated moping. "Oh well, they wouldn't have been good enough for me anyway."

Ruby gave Yang a sideways glance as she smiled at the buxom blonde's endless optimism. The buxom blonde grinned in return before revving her sparrow.

"Well, see you in one hour Rubes! Make sure to be safe!" Yang gave her sister a peace sign before blasting away on Demolition. All Ruby could do is smile at her sister, amused before she summoned her own sparrow and blasting away.

She had a nearby mall to search that looked promising.

 

* * *

 

 

 

The mall wasn't as awesome as she imagined it to be. The escalators occasionally lurched as echoes of power flashed through them and the building was absolutely massive. Most of the store had been taken over by nature. Foliage covered several walls, and the skylights covering the ceiling were slightly covered by several leaves jutting from bushes and moss. A few rays of sun filtered through the gaps between the leaves and broken skylights above, providing some light throughout the long, dark hallway Ruby walked down. The redheaded hunter glanced left and right constantly, checking each store for anything that would catch her eye. Unfortunately, most of the stores were picked clean of anything of high value.

Half an hour of wandering through stores later, and the spoils that Ruby had claimed had been fairly average. A few items here or there were in decent condition. Capable of being dismantled and used for bigger projects. A few pieces of steel here, a few circuit boards there. Fairly basic, but useful. She might be able to trade them out for Glimmer, which could be used to buy higher quality items. Like that Gravitational Beam Emitter Prototype that the Cryptarch was always studying. Ruby almost tripped on another skull as she traversed the dark environment. Plenty of skeletons littered the stores and floors all around the mall. A side effect of this being a crowded area around the time The Collapse happened. Minions of the dark killed everyone, regardless of where or who they were.

Ruby kept walking and turned around a corner at the end of the enormous hall. The hall opened into a multi floored plaza, with escalators that would get you to the second floor and an elevator that could go even higher. Ruby decided to try her luck on second floor, hoping to find something interesting. The creaky steel staircase might have unsettled Ruby while she was still in basic training, but not now. Nothing could be worse than a Hive Nest. The escalator lurched as Ruby reached the top, throwing her off balance before shorting out. She stared at the staircase as it gave a metaphorical death rattle.

It was sad, even after hundreds of years, the electric stairs still kept trying to run. Even though it was completely futile.

"Yeah." Ruby said with a hint of grim finality. "Kinda like us." Ruby turned and walked away, intent on exploring more of the mall.

That's how Ruby spent most of her hour, walking around a empty abandoned mall, finding the occasional piece of hardware and looking for interesting stuff. It was boring without Yang there to fill the silence, but on the other hand, Ruby valued the silence. It gave her space to think. Plan and ponder things. Of course, that planning never got very far before Ruby got distracted by something. Like the store on the far corner of the mall. The hunter stopped in front of the store, looking up at where the name of the store was supposed to be. Unfortunately, like so much else in this mall, the name of the store had worn off the walls with time.

Ruby strolled into the store. She was excited, but she couldn't let that excitement make her do something stupid, like dashing straight into a possibly booby trapped store. Although, Ruby's caution was unwarranted, the store seemed almost entirely untouched from people of evil intentions. Everything seemed a little damaged, if the children's toys littering the floors were of any indication, but the store seemed free from bullet holes or claw marks, or even any skeletons.

It felt....clean. Untouched. Even the plants deemed this place uninhabitable. It should have made Ruby uneasy. Instead it was relieving. Ruby smiled as she walked through the aisles, occasionally picking up a dust covered toy and fiddling with it, trying to figure out how it worked. Most of the toys were very simplistic, honking and making funny squeaking noises when pressed or squeezed in the right way. Those were the soft toys shaped like various animals that Ruby sometimes recognized. Other toys were made out of hard plastic and seemed to run off of electricity. Requiring some sort of energy source. For these toys, Ruby flared a very small current of Light through her hands, giving the toys a small source of power. The redhead was rewarded for her efforts with many small alarms and flaring lights. Certain phrases were spoken by various figurines of unknown people. Nothing that Ruby recognized, but fun enough to make her squeal and giggle with joy whenever it happened.

She lost track of time wandering the store and observing everything it had to offer. However, it was near the back where Ruby found her favorite discovery so far. There was a door that said "Birthday Area" on it. Ruby had no way of seeing what was on the other side of this door, but something told her it was gonna be good. Upon opening the door, Ruby had to cover her eyes from the plentiful amount of sunlight suddenly assaulting her face. Upon her eyes adjustment to the bright environment, Ruby opened them and looked around. The redhead had no choice but to gasp in wonder at her surroundings.

It was a park.

An absolutely massive park. It took up about thirty square feet of space and was three stories tall. Small buildings made of steel and plastic with foam flooring surrounding the entire structure. The wall on the opposite end of the room was made entirely of glass, allowing the sun to shine freely into the room, exaggerating the paint on the park structures even further. It was colorful, almost blindingly so. And Ruby wanted nothing more than to jump right into it. The redhead quickly closed the door behind her and stripped herself of all of her heavy armor and knives. She didn't want to accidentally damage anything in front of her, as it was clearly not built for soldiers to play on. After Ruby removed her armor all that was left to cover her modesty was a black fiber mesh bodysuit that was worn underneath. Ruby's custom bodysuit could easily cover her and provide protection from most weapons. And it couldn't scratch up anything by running into it too hard.

With a smile on her face, Ruby scanned everything she just removed from herself into her inventory banks before jogging up the nearest staircase into the heart of the structure. It was simple. Just a few walkways that were kept narrow via the steel railways on either side. It was basically a series of bridges, staircases, walls, ladders and catwalks that all led to different activities, such a slides, puzzles, ball-pits, tunnels, and jungle gyms. It was amazing! Ruby had only ever heard of these things via books and stories from Legacy guardians. Any park she had managed to find before had always been damaged to the point of unrecognizability. There were parks in certain zones of the city, but they were nothing like this, and they were always crowded by actual children. Now, with this park being practically untouched, Ruby took full advantage and explored the large structure to her heart's content.

Ruby slid down a plastic slide into a ball pit on the bottom floor before turning around and seeing a colorful switch on the wall. A large drawing of a water droplet was next to it. Grinning, Ruby ran up to it and practically slammed the button. After a few moments of clicking and whirring, sprays of water erupted from hidden water jets in the floor that Ruby had completely missed. The best part was that the water was _clean._ Something unheard of to just stumble across unless you were in the main city. Giggling with joy, Ruby went and danced around the open space, getting soaked from head to toe. It was one of the prettiest things that the young hunter had ever seen. The sun shone through the window, glistening through the water, casting an assortment of rainbows across the room.

Ruby was having so much fun, that she didn't notice when her wrist-pad alarm went off signaling that it was time to rendezvous with Yang. So of course, she was surprised when she heard someone else opening the door. Reacting on instinct, Ruby quickly scanned her Hand Cannon from her databanks before aiming it at the door. The door squeaked open before revealing a helmeted Titan with their gun up.

"Ruby! Where were you? I called but you never called back? Where's your armor?" Ruby sighed with relief before lowering her gun and smiling sheepishly, hiding her face behind her hair.

"Sorry Yang, I guess I wasn't paying attention." Yang removed her helmet, revealing red eyes that glared at her sister.

"Do you know where you are Ruby?! Anything could have walked through that door! I killed a fallen patrol less than two blocks away on my way here!" Ruby scowled before flaring her Light, letting the resulting lightning flow across her body.

"Do you really think I don't know that Yang? Do you really think a lowly Fallen patrol could kill me? I never forget where I am. I can't." Ruby swiped her bangs away from her right eye, before glaring at her sister. Ruby noted Yang's slight flinch.

"And you know why I can't." The two sisters stared down for a handful of moments before Yang's eyes fizzled out, returning to lilac as she averted her gaze. Ruby, feeling the smallest inklings of guilt, allowed her bangs to cover her right eye again.

"Sorry Yang." Yang shook her head in response.

"Nah Rubes, it's okay, I shouldn't have yelled. But still, it is dangerous to strip down out here."

"I know! But I've never seen a park like this and I got a little excited." At Ruby's words, Yang let out a frustrated sigh while massaging her temples.

"Honey, there are parks like this in the city. You just gotta know where to look." Ruby perked up at that, interested that she had never found any such places on her own expeditions in the Last City.

"Now c'mon, we gotta get to the hotel. After that, we can go home."

Ruby sighed before nodding in agreement. Pulling up her wrist-pad, Ruby hit a few buttons and held still as she felt her armor and weapons materialized across her body, except her helmet that remained chained to her hip. The redhead followed her sister out the door before turning around to stare at it. The words "Birthday Area" standing out clearly.

"Yang."

"Yes Rubes?" Ruby turned to look at her sister.

"We'll come back here later....right?" Yang seemed to think about it for a moment before nodding.

"Sure. I don't see why not. If we're careful, we can use this place for a lot."

Ruby nodded as the two sisters exited the toy store.

 

* * *

 

 

 

The drive to the Hotel was mainly made in silence as the two sisters rode their own sparrows down the abandoned streets. Both sisters went without their helmets, but they did have communicators in their ears. It made talking over the screeching wind much easier.

"Say Rubes! What can we expect to find in this hotel? It seems like a major landmark for this city." Yang asked her sister, as she swerved around a wrecked automobile.

"Well, according to the reports, apparently the hotel had some nice generators among other things on the basement level. But the locks on the doors to access the gear itself had locks to good for the scouting squads to crack."

"It is okay for us to have this stuff right?"

"There isn't any Vanguard claims on this report if that's what you mean." Yang gave an audible sigh at that.

"Thank god. If I spend another second with Zavala I swear-" Ruby laughed at her sister's torment as they both took a hard left turn, allowing the hotel to be revealed a few blocks away.

"He isn't that bad Yang!" Yang turned her head to glance at Ruby, an expression of horror on her face.

"Ruby, he managed to make weapon design sound boring. Something that we ALL enjoy. He literally lectured me and the rest of the titans on how honorable it was to be a Titan and how we quote 'hold the weight of the city on our shoulders'. Like, he's worse than Port! At least he makes his stories fun." Ruby is almost dying in laughter aboard her high speed sparrow. The only thing keeping her from crashing being the auto piloting system.

"It's not funny sis! I almost walked out the door when that happened!" Yang's words only enhanced Ruby's apparent glee at her sister's torment. The hooded hunter literally keeled over in her sparrow, laughing loudly as she didn't even bother to look at the street anymore. Which didn't really matter since the hotel was literally right across the street. The two sisters slowed down as they approached the decimated building. Well, Yang slowed down. Ruby just allowed her sparrow to do it for her as she rolled off the floating machine, deciding that the sidewalk was a better place to be. Yang disembarked Demolition, pouting at her sister's obvious enjoyment of her sorrow.

"Ruby! It's not that funny!" Despite Yang's words, she couldn't stop the smirk that broke across her face at Ruby's full blown laughter. Despite the redhead's serious lack of oxygen at the moment, she still managed to choke out a few words in between gasps.

"Oh god. That's exactly what Cayde said he'd do. Those exact words. Just, the image!" And with that Ruby broke into another round of laughter. Except this time Yang joined in, unable to stop the giggles that spilled from her lips. The two sisters sat there, next to a giant staircase leading up to an abandoned hotel, laughing their hearts out over something that, in hindsight, wasn't that funny at all. It took a few minutes, but the two sisters eventually came down from their idiotic high and ceased their laughter.

"My sides hurt." Ruby is still lying on the concrete floor, staring at the sky with a content grin on her face. Yang is just laying back on her sparrow, basking in the warmth the engine gave off. Not that the furnaces in her own armor weren't warm, but still, Yang appreciated the warmth nonetheless.

"Yeah? Well, that's what happens when you laugh Rubes. It's proof that you had a good time." Ruby chuckled at her sister's words before hauling herself up to lean against the nearby stone wall. Conveniently, the stairs were built in a way that allowed them to be surrounded by stone walls, elevating the floor. After a few stretches, Ruby scanned her sparrow away, before gesturing towards the hotel entrance.

"Well Yang? Are we gonna get going? A basement of loot awaits us!" Yang laughed at Ruby's antics, which was Ruby's goal, before standing up and scanning her sparrow away as well. The two sisters stood up and stared at the measly six floors of the once twenty story tall hotel.

"Hey sis?"

"Yes Yang?"

"Where'd the rest of it go?" Ruby pulled up the Vanguard map again before pointing forward.

"Apparently, the hive ship warped about twenty miles north after cleaving off the upper floors of the hotel, taking the debris with it." Yang let out a low whistle at her sister's explanation.

"Damn. That's sad. This building was probably cool. That penthouse would have been sweet." Ruby giggled before she narrowed he gaze at an alert on her wrist-pad that was beeping at her. Opening the alert, Ruby's demeanor changed from carefree to frosty in a matter of seconds. Yang apparently noticed and straightened up as well.

"What is it Rubes?" Ruby swiped her holographic screen away before drawing her Hand cannon, Thorn.

"Looks like that basement loot will have to wait. There's a Light signature on the fifth floor." Yang immediately yanked her helmet off her hip and donned it before drawing her own weapon. A light signature was a big deal. It could be several things. Shards of the traveler, Golden Age tech, and even Dead Guardians. Yang prayed it wasn't the last one. She has never revived a Guardian before, and she didn't plan to start now. Ruby donned her own helmet before jogging toward the entrance. Yang followed her, activating comms as she did so.

"What type of signature was it Rubes?" Yang could check herself, but Ruby was always better at reading the code than she was anyway.

"I'm not sure. The code seemed close to a Guardian, but it was scrambled, Like someone had taken a sword and hacked it to pieces." Ruby could hear Yang's breath hitch slightly. It was small, but it was telling of her sister's fear, however small it was. The front doors of the hotel were probably nice looking at one point. Double revolving doors, composed of glass, decorated with elaborate metal work framing the whole thing. Those same doors now lay on the ground, ripped from their framing, glass shattered and littering the ground. The guardians ignored the destruction and walked through the door, weapons at the ready. Ruby took point, keeping her Hand Cannon at waist level, ready to be snapped up and fired at a moments notice.

"Yang, flame on." Yang nodded before hitting a few buttons on her wrist-pad. A few moments passed before the furnaces built into Yang's armor lit ablaze, allowing fire to roar through the small openings covering her chest plate, helmet, and shoulder pads. The lobby of the hotel was suddenly visible, and what was revealed didn't paint a pretty picture of the past.

"Aww shit." Ruby watched her sister's shoulders slump ever so slightly as she spoke. Ruby shared her sentiments. Skeletons littered the lobby, flooding in from both the elevators in the back and the two staircases from both the left and right. The lobby was symmetrical, allowing easy memorization of the building, not that this helped these people escape from whatever mowed them all down. Ruby crouched down, observing a skeleton. There weren't any traumatic bone injuries, implying that the death wasn't very physical. So Hive was out of the question. And the body's weren't organized or collected in any way, so this wasn't Cabal either.

"Fallen." Ruby looked up at her sister, who had walked past the mounds of bones to stand next to what used to be a receptionist desk. Ruby stood up and walked over to see what Yang was staring at. A large marking was carved on the floor behind the desk.

"The House of Devils." Ruby recognized the simple tower-like carving. Every Fallen House had a unique sigil. They left them behind in places to let others know who owned the territory, and to let members of the House know that the surrounding area had been looted. Which, judging by the claw marks all over the walls and the severe lack of electronics including security cameras and televisions sets that had been ripped out of the walls, the Devils had been through here already.

"Isn't that just rich?" Ruby began, vitriol coloring her voice. "Slaughter us during the collapse, then coming back hundreds of years later to comb over the remains."

"Well-" Yang began, hoisting her gun as she walked towards the right hallway, bones crunching with every step. "With any luck, they won't be back anytime soon." Ruby looked at the remains around her for a few moments longer before swallowing thickly and following her sister deeper into the hotel.

A few moments later, the two guardians left the lobby behind and trekked through a side hallway, intent on reaching the stairs. As the sisters also discovered, the building was built on the axis of the poles. Meaning the right hallway was actually the East hallway the entrance was on the north end of the building and so forth and so on. It was dark and no windows could filter light this far inside the building. However, Yang's armor kept her steady, and Ruby had her helmet's night vision if the darkness ever got that bad. There were plenty of side doors that led to many other areas of the hotel. Closets, laundry rooms, bathrooms, even a kitchen. All of it was skipped over. The Devils had most likely taken anything of value anyway. The only reason this building ever even got a report dedicated to it was because of the locked basement. Without that room, this building would have probably been labeled condemned and ignored.

A few more minutes of almost blind travel later, and the two sisters stumbled across a steel door. Echoes of clashing steel reverberated through the rooms as Yang kicked in Â the door labeled 'East Staircase Access'. This room was a bit brighter and looking up revealed why. The stairs went upwards until about the seventh floor, then they just dropped off into nothing, opening up to the sky. The hive ship that cleaved off the upper floors did so at a slight slant. On the other end of the building the sixth floor had probably sustained some damage as well. Meaning that most of this area had been revealed to the elements. The railways on the stairwell were rusted from water damage, looking ready to snap apart at the slightest touch. Not that this mattered much.

"If these maps are correct, we're at the East side of the building right now." Yang gave a stiff grunt at her sister's words before beginning her march up the stairs. It was easy work with the pair being used to strenuous exercise. It was dead silent with the exception of the Guardians' breathing and the clank of boots on tile. Five floors later, the sisters opened up the door and walked out into a long narrow hallway with dozens of doors on either side. They appeared to be on the far right end of the hallway, with the non-functional elevators being in the middle. Ruby took point again, checking her wrist-pad for the location of the signature before nodding to herself and briskly walking down the hall.

"This way, it's on the far end, by the elevator." Yang nodded before following her sister. Upon reaching the midway point, the two guardians came upon a door with the numbers '52' on it. Ruby wasn't sure what they would find on the other side of this door, but they were going in anyway.

Ruby turned to stare at the helmeted Yang before nodding and holding up three fingers. Counting down, the second Ruby hit zero, Yang shouldered open the door, rifle at the ready. Ruby came in behind her, pistol being holstered as she did so. The lack of gunfire meant a lack of danger.

"Well, guess you were right Rubes." The apartment was a mess. Claw marks littered the walls along with bullet holes. Furniture was upturned and lay in pieces along the floor. What was left of a bedframe was lodged in the wall, crashing through to the next apartment, and the two windows that overlooked the front of the hotel had both been blown inwards. Glass littered the floor and multiple sets of skeletal remains littered the floor. A fine layer of dust covered everything and Ruby was grateful to the shattered windows that probably kept the air here from becoming stale.

However, the main attraction of the room, lay in the far corner. A small, glowing, golden ball of light. A deceased guardian. A long dead guardian if the pile of aged bones beneath the orb was any indication. Ruby walked into the room, Yang following suit as she closed the door. Ruby made sure not to disturb too much of the surrounding area, keeping her eyes on the orb the whole time. It was a strange orb. It pulsed very faintly on an irregular pattern and it also seemed to have a temperature, which a quick check with thermal vision confirmed. Although the oddest thing about the orb was that it flickered, changing colors to black for the smallest of moments before reverting back to gold. Black was never a good color for a guardian to have, it usually meant bad things. Which explained why the Vanguard hadn't bothered to put a fucking dead Guardian in there report! Ruby was seething, the idea of leaving someone for dead o a hunch was preposterous in her mind. But the hooded Hunter kept herself in check. This wasn't the time to get angry.

"Yang? Should we call this in?"" Ruby turned to look at her sister, who had taken her helmet off, flicked off her armor furnaces, and was leaning against the wall, simply observing. The black armored Titan shrugged before answering.

"Comms are spotty this far out in the Cosmodrome. You can try, but the chances of getting a clear connection are pretty low." Ruby figured this would be the case, but she still wanted to try anyway. The redhead pressed a few buttons on her wrist-pad before hearing a few blasts of static through her comms. After a few beats and no hint of the connection to the Tower clearing up, Ruby gave up and cut the connection. Ruby took her helmet off and chained it to her belt as she stared at the orb in thought.

"We should revive them." Ruby blurted the words before she even knew what she was saying. But the moment they were out Ruby knew she meant them.

"You are aware of the risk of Legacy Guardian revival without a Ghost right?" Yang had adopted a serious tone, no longer leaning against the wall, but instead walking over to stand next to her sister.

"Of course I do! But we can't just leave them here! Besides, I have the highest grade in Light Manipulation and Guardian Revival in our entire class! If anyone can do it, it's me!"

Yang's eyes flickered red as her hair flared with heat. "I KNOW THAT RUBY! But-" The armored titan turned her back to her sister, tugging on her hair in frustration as she tried to calm herself down. "What happens if something goes wrong? Goodwitch isn't here to yank you back if something goes wrong!"

Ruby shivered a bit, knowing her sister was right and that if the revival went wrong, Ruby would go to sleep with no reference for when she would wake up. Ruby met her sister's eyes, her lone left eye almost seeming to glow with determination.

"I'm willing to take that risk." Yang stared at Ruby for almost a solid minute after that before her lips pressed together in a thin line. A thoughtful look flashing across her face as Yang seemed to come to a decision.

"What if I did it instead?" Yang started to walk towards the orb, decision seemingly made, before Ruby stepped in front of her.

"How does that help Yang?! You're more at risk than I am!" Yang just grinned down at her sister.

"How about we play rock paper scissors for it?" Ruby was about to open her mouth to argue, but then she looked a little closer at Yang's eyes. There was a steel in them. A determination that Yang always seemed to get whenever Ruby was at risk. Because no matter what the academy or some dumb papers said about Ruby being in charge, when it came down to it, when the rough decisions had to be made concerning team safety, Yang was the first person Ruby went to for guidance. And now, Ruby was realizing just how little say she really had in this matter. With a frustrated sigh, Ruby smirked at her stubborn sister before reaching her hand out in a fist.

"Best of three?" Yang grinned even wider.

"Sure. Ready?"

"Set."

"Go." Two fists swung up and down in sync three times before stopping, each making different symbols. Yang had scissors, Ruby had paper.

"Shit."

"Round two?"

"I'm gonna beat you this time."

Again, three beats were counted before symbols were selected. This time, it was a tie between rock.

"This is stupid Yang."

"Maybe, but it works."

"Let's just go again."

Finally, with the final three beats, the game ended. Yang had selected scissors again, and Ruby had again tried paper.

"Fuck!" Ruby stomped the floor, teeth clenched as tears sprung to her eyes.

"Welp, guess that's that." Yang just shrugged at her apparent victory, before starting to walk towards the orb in the corner.

"Wait Yang!" Ruby stepped in front of her sister, putting her hands up, palms out, in an attempt to stop Yang from moving farther. "Wait! I just- I don't-we-we need to- you can't-" Ruby couldn't string a coherent sentence together as she tried her absolute hardest to not just start crying. Before the redhead could go any farther, she felt a pair of hands settle themselves over her shoulders. Looking up, Ruby saw her sister smiling down at her, as if nothing could go wrong.

"Don't worry Honey. Everything's gonna go just fine. I'm gonna walk over there and in a few minutes, we'll have a new friend. Okay?" Yang brushed her sister's bangs away from her right eye, revealing Ruby's synthetic eye. Yang stared into it, not flinching, grimacing, or showing any sign of disgust or nervousness. All she showed was confidence. And as Ruby adjusted her right eye to scan her sister, she didn't even find an increased heart rate. Yang honestly believed that this was gonna work. So with all the confidence a distressed little sister could have, Ruby nodded and stepped aside. Yang walked right past her and sat down next to the orb.

It hadn't changed much from a few minutes ago. It still pulsed dimly and swapped colors to black every now and then. Yang didn't seem to be scared at all, but Ruby was still holding her breath as Yang reached her hand out to touch the orb. Ruby could see Yang's Light, her very soul as it vibrated, intent on mimicking the orb to revive whatever poor soul was dormant inside. When Yang touched the orb, she shivered, but remained still. Nothing else happened, but the orb did shift and flicker more erratically. Ruby heard Yang's breath hitch before the orb calmed down returning to it's normal pulse. Yang sighed in noticeable relief, laughing before looking over to Ruby who was also laughing at their good fortune.

_"Remember to be careful students-"_

"That wasn't so bad Rubes!"

_"Sometimes trying to revive a guardian without a ghost carries certain risk."_

"I told you everything would be okay!"

_"Among those effects is what is referred to as a Light induced Coma."_

"Hey? Why isn't it-" There wasn't any sound, or a warning. Yang simply slumped over, falling unconscious almost immediately.

"Yang!" Ruby rushed over to her sister's side, flipping her over so she could see her face. Yang's eyes were closed, looking like she had simply fallen asleep. Ruby knew better.

"C'mon Yang! Wake up!" Ruby knew it was futile. Cayde told her as much. When you revived a Legacy Guardian sans ghost, it either worked, or the person trying to revive would go on a trip down memory lane. And it was the deceased Guardian's choice when that trip ended. Ruby allowed herself one minute to panic. Just one minute. After that, the redhead clamped down on everything she was feeling, threw it into a box and locked that box deep down. A few moments later, after taking some deep breaths, Ruby opened her eyes, to reveal an eye just as smooth and lifeless as the synthetic copy resting in her right socket. The hunter moved with practiced motions, using old blankets from a nearby shredded mattress to Â make a pillow for her sister, intent on making what could turn into a several hour nap comfortable. Ruby also opened up her team interface and removed all of Yang's armor except her fiber-mesh under suit. Sleeping in armor could cause cramps, something that Ruby wanted to avoid.

After everything was said and done, all of Yang's armor and weapons rested in her digital databanks, and She looked like she was sleeping peacefully. The orb next to her seemed to be glowing brighter and pulsing more erratically. Not surprising given that it was in the process of being slowly reassembled thanks to Yang's efforts. Ruby had done everything she could do at this point. Now, she went over to the window, set the tipped over desk back on it's legs, and sat down, intent on keeping watch over her sister while she slept.

_"Light induced Comas are physically harmless. But you will see things while you are sleeping. And chances are, you won't wake up the same way you went under-"_

They were going to be here awhile.

 

* * *

 

 

 

The sun had long ago passed over the horizon, allowing the moon to take it's rightful presence over the sky.

Yang still hadn't woken up.

Ruby sat on her desk by the window, carefully observing her sister as she slept, working to untangle the scrambled souls that remained dormant. Progress had been made, the orb that had once floated off the ground has now since run aground, expanding into something roughly humanoid. It seemed like whatever process that it was undergoing seemed to function similar to a normal Guardian revival, but at a much slower pace. Ruby had long ago clipped her bangs up, allowing her synthetic eye the freedom to scan the room. Constantly recording, analyzing, and scanning the room. Ruby knew that Yang's skin was ninety seven degrees Fahrenheit, and that based on both her breathing and heart-rate, Yang was currently in the deepest stages of REM sleep.

The hooded hunter had also taken to watching her surroundings. The room she was in had changed greatly in appearance since the sun had vanished beneath the horizon. Shadows crossed the walls, exaggerating the claw marks already there. Moonlight shone through the window, reflecting off the dust in the air and the glass on the floor. Ruby remained vigilant, swinging her leg off the edge of the desk in a carefully timed beat. The redhead had already tried to contact both The Tower and Beacon already with no success. And no search parties would be sent out for awhile since overnight patrols were a common occurrence amongst most guardians. It was frustrating, but Ruby would endure, she always has.

**_BTTOOOOOOOOMMMM_ **

Ruby didn't react much to the noise beyond her ears ringing. But she did turn to look out the window, observing just what could cause the atmosphere to shred like that. Ruby's answer was two Fallen skiffs that had decided to fuck her over this day. Ruby didn't panic or run out to attack or anything reckless. She just....watched. Took notes as the Fallen disembarked their ships. They weren't House of Devils. The sigils on their cloaks were different. That was good news, any traps they set off would immediately be assumed to be a rival house. It meant that the Fallen would be cautious, but would never expect a Guardian until Ruby revealed herself. Â Ruby counted two Captains. Both with teams of eight Vandals, four Dregs, and one Servitor. The weapons were fairly basic, with no high yield explosives to be seen. Except for the Servitors with their Plasma cannons, and the dropships themselves with heavy plasma artillery. The captains seemed to possess basic shotguns. Not to fancy, but still capable of shredding a guardian at close range. Everyone else just seemed to have the typical Fallen armory of shitty plasma rifles, knives and spears. Nothing too problematic if dealt with properly. Ruby marked every single hostiles DNA signature, allowing her to use her eye to track them through walls. Satisfied with her pre battle set up, Ruby allowed the super computer in her eye to go to work, immediately creating the best strategy to counter the current adversary.

 _"What is the main objective?"_ Text materialized into Ruby's Vision, her Eye requesting information for the analysis.

 _"Protecting Yang."_ Ruby answered in her head.

_"Mission parameters?"_

_"Stealth Only. The Fallen cannot know I am here. They may attempt to destroy the building to kill me which would put Yang in danger."_

_"Are Silver Eyes Required?"_

_"Not unless Yang is in immediate danger."_ Â Ruby had to be conservative with her Silver Eyes. They could bring unwanted attention in the form of extra ships if one of the Fallen called in that the famous Reaper was alone in the Cosmodrome. THAT was attention Ruby couldn't handle being chained to this area as she was.

_"Strategy Complete. Data transferred."_

Ruby let her breathe out as her vision normalized and the text vanished. Â The hooded hunter had a plan now. One that was most likely going to work bar any complications. The whole transfer took seconds of real time. Ruby stood up and walked over to her still sleeping sister. The sight of the motionless Blonde stirred a feeling of guilt from the hooded hunter, but Ruby viciously stamped that emotion down. She had a mission right now, one she couldn't afford to fail. Ruby opened up her sister's inventory, grabbing all of Yang's high yield bombs and grenades along with her broadsword and stashing it in her own inventory. Something told the young hunter that regardless of how stealthy she was, this would get loud at some point. Satisfied with her current weapons, Ruby went to stand before freezing at her sister's groan of discomfort. Ruby watched as Yang squirmed a bit before settling back down. Whatever she was dealing with while rebuilding the dead guardian in the room had to be far from pleasant. Ruby felt her mask slip ever so slightly as she bent down and pressed a chaste kiss to her sister's temple.

"I'll be back soon." And with those words, Ruby whisked away from the room, closing the door and donning her helmet as she did. Ruby was confident that Yang would be safe, for she had lain down two sawblade ejectors in the room. The second anyone other than Ruby or Yang walked into that room, they would become intimately familiar with the feeling of an industrial saw slicing into them.

As the hunter walked down the hall to the staircase, she observed her enemies' positions. It seemed like only one team of Fallen had entered the building, leaving the other to guard the ships. Not a bad option considering those docked ships were their only means of escape. Something Ruby could use to her advantage. But first, Ruby had to handle all the hostiles in the building, separate them, then deal with them as she saw fit. Ruby moved to stairway access, intent on reaching the sixth floor remains, it would give her plenty of options to reach the rest of the building, including the darkened back where no ships or moonlight illuminated the dark stone walls.

Reaching the sixth floor, Ruby nudged open the door, only to be greeted with a decently strong gust of wind. The night sky was fairly cloudy, only allowing the smallest rays of moonlight through. It was enough for fairly decent eyesight for both Fallen and the hunter herself. Complete darkness would be better, but Ruby could make it work. The ceiling was mostly intact until halfway through where it just...ended, revealing the night sky. Ruby walked down the hall, observing her prey as she did so.

It seemed like the Captain and Servitor were moving to the basement.

 _"Good, that makes this easy. He can have the loot if it means splitting up his team."_ Fallen didn't have a set strategy for looting. It was more of a Finders-Keepers system than anything else. They were prone to splitting up while exploring. And Ruby was about to abuse that mentality. The other twelve members of Captain A's squadron were still on the first floor, clearing the rooms as they went. But a curious three of that twelve was wandering up to the second floor. Three dregs it seemed, trying to get a head start on their friends. Pity they wouldn't find anything. Not unless the Devil's had left something behind.

Ruby ran to the west side of the building, the hallway opening up into empty space. The hunter simply leapt off before spinning around, pulling two knives from her chest holsters as she did so. The clang of steel being shoved through stone was not quite silent. But Fallen were not known for their hearing. Ruby began to descend the west side of the building, cloaked In shadows as she climbed down to the second floor. Upon reaching the second floor Ruby peered through the window. The hallway was clear, and Ruby could see all the Dreg in their own separate rooms. Decently spaced out too. Ruby quietly opened the window, slipping into the dark hallway without a sound. Walking through the hall, Ruby remained low to the ground, hood pulled up for maximum coverage. The first door on the left, near the elevator was where Dreg number One rummaged around. Peering in, Ruby could see the Dreg picking through a tipped over dresser. Ruby walked in, knife in hand. Upon reaching the midway point of the room, Ruby dashed over and shoved her knife directly into the unprotected throat of the Dreg. With a wet gurgle and cough, the Dreg started to struggle. Ruby didn't give the creature any chance to revel in its death throes as she yanked the light humanoid over and shoved it out the window, shattering it.

The Dreg couldn't even scream as it fell out the window, splattering on the southern end of the building, away from the sight of the team patrolling the ships on the Northern face of the Hotel. Ruby heard the Dregs on the same floor of hers give screams of surprise before running to her room. Ruby dashed into the corner of the room parallel to the door, checking to make sure that the Vandals and lone Dreg below her didn't notice the commotion. Seeing some of them freeze then continue their own business put Ruby's fears to rest. They seemed to not care if some lowly Dregs died, assuming it was infighting for scraps. How unlucky for them.

Right at that moment, the remaining Dregs on her floor ran into her room, dashing straight to the broken window. Ruby thanked them for gawking at the shattered window with two knives she threw directly at their heads. They didn't even know what happened when they both hit the floor in sync, knife handles protruding from the backs of their skulls. Ruby quickly snatched her knives back before yanking up the bodies and shoving them out the same window. Better to hide the evidence than to leave it there.

"Three down, twenty-one to go." Ruby whispered to herself as she left the room, closing the door behind her. The remaining Fallen seemed to be finishing up the first floor so Ruby moved back to the East stairwell, leaving a simple wire trap Â on the inside of the stairway door as she did so. The Fallen seemed to be favoring the West Stairwell for now, but leaving little surprises here or there never hurt anyone. Ruby dashed up to the third floor, running into a random room to dash out the window of on the southern end. The Fallen were moving up to the second floor except for a pair of Vandals that seemed to be messing with something in one of the first floor rooms. Ruby scaled down the back, again using her knives to scale the stone building. Reaching the room, Ruby peered in. The pair of vandals were messing with what appeared to be a steel safe. Trying to pick it's padlock.

Ruby pulled out her suppressed handgun before pressing it, barrel first to the glass. Two shots later and all that remained was two corpses. Ruby stowed her gun and climbed higher.

"That's five." Ruby glanced up to view her targets before gasping in quiet shock. Two Vandals and a Dreg had skipped floor three and four entirely and went straight for five.

"Yang." Ruby dashed straight up the wall, almost lunging for the fifth story window. The redhead fell into the room right across from Yang's, just in time for the Fallen to reach the stairway door to this floor. Ruby remained calm and pulled out both a knife and her suppressed handgun Thistle. Ruby waited behind the door, as the Vandals swept the first few rooms. Upon the Dreg reaching her room out of eyesight of his companions, Ruby swung the door inwards and shoved her knife forward into his throat. The hunter pulled the gurgling Dreg into the room before closing the door. Ruby then viciously yanked her knife from the Dreg's throat, maiming it's vocal cords to ensure no sound was made. Ruby exited the room, before walking in a crouch towards the remaining Vandals.

They were in rooms facing each other, making this a bit more difficult. At the slightest sound, one Vandal could turn, seeing Ruby and radioing in about her. Good thing Ruby had a plan. The redhead materialized a small orb covered with vents. Reaching the door on the right, Ruby pressed a button on the orb and tossed it into the room on the left, where the ships wouldn't be able to see the smoke. Ruby closed the door she just threw the orb into before turning around and putting a bullet in the head of the Vandal that had just begun to turn his head. Ruby held the door shut as muffled screaming came from the other side of the door. A few seconds later, that screeching turned into gurgles. Then silence.

Ruby opened the door and peered through the red tinted smoke that now permeated the room. On the floor lay the still body of a Vandal, with bloody roses erupting from it's chest.

 _"Can't radio in when you can't breathe."_ Ruby closed the door, and walked over to the Vandal she had just shot, picking up the spear he had left by his room door. It wasn't heavy, but it had a blade and could kill. That's all Ruby needed. Ruby left that room behind before dashing into the left stairwell. Only four Vandals remain in the building, with the Captain in the basement with the Servitor. And the remaining Vandals were about to enter the western stairwell from the third floor. Ruby decided that she could hide on the fifth floor stairwell, allowing the Vandals access to the fourth floor before finishing them off from behind. Ruby hid on the fifth floor stairwell, out of sight from any floors below as she lay down on the floor. Upon hearing the door two floors below her slam open, Ruby froze, ensuring not to make any noise as she held still. The Vandals chatted together in their native chittering tongue as they climbed up the square staircase to reach the fourth floor. Upon reaching it, the Vandals kicked slammed open the door, continuing their search for loot.

Ruby stood up before dashing down the stairs to the open fourth floor stairway door. The Vandals had split up, each going into a different room, although they all stuck to the western side of the hotel, meaning any sound could alert them. Ruby carefully walked over to the nearest Vandal, in a room on the northern end of the building. Peering in, the Vandal seemed to be peering out the window at the parked ships outside. Ruby took advantage, dashing over and sinking the spear she had stolen into the base of his skull. The Vandal went limp immediately. Ruby took the weight with grace, lowering the body down silently.

The hunter left the body there along with the now ruined and dull spear before double checking to make sure that no-one outside had seen anything. Based on the lack of panic or urgency, Ruby assumed not and continued her silent slaughter. Moving back outside of her room, Ruby crouch-walked across the hall to the next room, seeing two Vandals messing with some sort of cabinet that was locked. One was bashing his gun against the padlock keeping it shut whilst the other just seemed to stare and make this weird repeating wheezing sound. Ruby assumed that was their version of laughing. Ruby threw her knife as she drew Thistle from it's holster, shooting the cabinet Vandal just a her knife landed in the skull of his friend. Both bodies hit the floor none too silently, leading to the last Vandal to come investigate.

Ruby his behind the door, leaving it open for the Vandal to walk in. The second that dumb creature saw his dead companions, it ran into the room screaming, allowing Ruby to easily put a bullet into his skull.

"And that's twelve." The fourteen outside would be easy to deal with, so the Captain and Servitor in the basement were the most important hostiles at the moment. It had been about half an hour since the Fallen had landed here. Ruby felt her body ache with slight tiredness from all the climbing she had been doing, but the redhead ignored it. She had experienced worse.

Ruby slowly began her stroll down the east stairwell on her way to the basement. It took awhile, but when Ruby got to the first floor, she walked down the east hall until coming up the an open door that read 'Basement Access' on it. Walking down that dark stone tunnel like stairwell was easy enough. Until Ruby got to another ajar door that opened up into a huge open area. It seemed like it was once full of computers at one point, but those computers had long since been stolen, leaving only several isles of wooden desks around. Ruby navigated through the room before getting to the other side. The stone walls and floors were completely barren, and the only things on the ceiling was spinning fans. There were probably other things on the walls and floor of the room, but Ruby's night vision could only go so far. Upon reaching the end of the room, Ruby ran into yet another door, which at this point she started to worry.

 _"Normal Hotels don't have such expansive basements. What was this building really for?"_ Ruby could see that the Fallen Captain was on the other end of this door and pulled out her Hand Cannon Thorn before opening the door. This room was big, but it was also barren of anything that would tell Ruby the room's purpose. The only notable feature was a giant door on the other side of the room. Every door before this one was normal sized. But this one, this one was the size of a legitimate Hangar door. And the Servitor was trying to open it. Ruby ignored the distracted Servitor, keeping her eye on the Captain that had seen her come in and was hissing at her, gun at the ready.

"Hello Captain. I hope dying was on your list of things to do today!" The Captain screeched before speaking.

"Guarrrdian!" Oh, this Fallen had taken the time to learn English.

"So you do speak. That's funny. The rest of your squad didn't say much aside from 'Gurgle, cough and choke' they were boring." Ruby didn't need to egg on the captain, but she wanted to. Fucking with Fallen was always a fun thing to do. But nothing that Ruby did in that moment mattered, because that's when the Servitor unlocked the door. With a large crash and hiss, the giant steel doors slid open.

"You're too late Guarrrrdian." The Fallen Captain seemed proud that he had been capable of watching a Servitor open a door, but Ruby was to busy staring at the opening three meter thick steel door to care about that.

Ruby understood what fear was very well. She had experienced the fear of death years prior and made her peace with it. But that experience still didn't stop her from almost screaming when she saw what was on the other side of that door. It was a cavern, a very large one that looked chiseled out. But it wasn't the cavern that scared her. No, it was what was in the cavern that scared her.

Silver eyes stared into the dark abyss.

Several thousand glowing green eyes stared back

The Fallen Captain standing next to Ruby let out a wail of horror.

The abyss answered with a wail of it's own.

ssssssccccccCCHhhhhhhHHHHRRRRRRREEEEEE **EEEEEEE** **EEEEEEEEEEE**

If Ruby could select a sound that would play when Hell finally found it's way to Earth's surface, that would be it. It was a cacophony of countless inhuman voices screaming together. It was loud enough to shake the very foundations of the building she was in. And then the Abyss _moved._ It was a solid wall of eyes, claws and teeth. Ruby didn't bother to fire, or make any attempt to fight. There were far too many.

No, Ruby just ran. She turned and ran, slamming every door she had touched shut as she went. Not that it would matter, any door between her and them would fold like toilet paper against that many claws.

Hive. The basement was full of Hive. Wizards, Knights, Acolytes, but mainly Thrall.

So many Thrall.

Ruby ran. And as she ran, she cried.

Because if Yang didn't wake up soon, she didn't know how they were gonna make it out of this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M ALIVE!!!! I promised I would add more to this eventually.
> 
> Emphasis on the "Eventually" bit there.
> 
> *Laughs nervously as I glance at the last update date*
> 
> But seriously, here is chapter two. My muse is back and my schedule is a bit more open now, so expect some chapters? But please, don't get your hopes up for bi weekly updates. My siblings are too hyperactive for me to have that much time on my hands.
> 
> Until Next Time!


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